Nazeem Kadri fellating thread.

Commence bashing of THM for the comments all week. You know, because one game changes everything.


Hey everyone, you know who else scored 2 goals and 1 point in a preseason game?

Alexandre Daigle.


Muppet - what does last night's game translate to in terms of playoffs PPG?

Game Day Thread - Tune up edition.

Leafs @ Senators
7:30pm.

Sens fans already have an advantage in this one since YOU get to watch it on sportsnet and WE have to watch it on Гостелерадио СССР.

Judging by the line-up Ottawa sent to Dundas, I would expect we should get a better opponent tonight. Toronto are still carrying 7-8 guys who are on the fringe and Wilson hinted that many of them will get their last shot tonight. That includes, of course, Nazem Kadri.

We'll get line-ups as soon as they surface.

What else we know... Sjorstrom will play his first game of the pre-season. Toronto's PK has only allowed 3 goals in 6 contests (I believe). Also if Spezza, Gonchar and Afraidsson are out there it will be a good test for our PK which I'm hoping they have been practicing. I know it's something I'll be watching closely tonight.

Also, Leafs Kris Versteeg and Danny Richmond are gone to Chicago to get their Stanley Cup rings, so they won't be in the line-up.

Game means nothing, but it means more than the back to backers we witnessed last week so this should be fun.

Senators cuts

16 lads sent down to Bingo or to their CHL teams:

Goaltenders

Mike Brodeur and Barry Brust

Defense

Andre Benoit, Eric Gryba, Geoff Kinrade and Craig Schira

Forwards

Jason Bailey, Eric Condra, Corey Cowick, Kaspars Daugavins, David Dziurzynski, Colin Greening, Mike Hoffman, Jim O’ Brien, Tim Spencer and Roman Wick.

Hoffman goes down without fuss, muss or unmet expectations.

Butler stays for now as do Cowen, Lehner and Weiricoch.

Sens play cheese whiz game and I have a question.

Since THM spent the day talking about Nazem Kadri he let you Sens fans down and didn't post a game day thread.

So here it is. Apparently I am supposed to watch Mike Hoffman to see what a real prospect looks like. I'm watching. And waiting...

My question is, where is that Shannon kid? He still messed up from the Rosehill encounter?

Kadri's struggles are nothing new. Just ask Darryl Sittler.

This from Howard Berger over at HockeyBuzz today:

"Rather than wallowing in despair – if, in fact, he is prone to such a tendancy – Nazem can study two of the greatest players in Maple Leafs lore. Hall-of-famers Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald were similarly overwhelmed by the immense leap from junior to the NHL.

Sittler, like Kadri, came out of London a terrific junior centre-man four decades ago this fall and made the Leafs as a 20-year-old. But, he played sparingly in 49 games on left wing and produced a mere 18 points. The next season wasn’t much better, as Sittler generated 32 points in 74 games. Only in his third NHL campaign did the St. Jacobs, Ont. native begin to display the form that would keep him atop the Leafs’ all-time scoring list for more than a quarter-century. Sittler had 29 goals and 77 points in 1972-73; he’d put up 80 points or more in each of the next eight seasons while establishing single-year franchise marks of 100 and 117.

McDonald was even more of an early disappointment. Chosen fourth overall by the Leafs in 1973 after a 62-goal eruption in junior for Medicine Hat, he spent much of his first two NHL seasons on his back-side – repeatedly falling, while chipping in only 31 goals in 134 games.

It was ultimately determined that his skates were being improperly sharpened. “Rocker” is the term used for achieving balance between the toe and heel portions of the skate-blade, and Lanny’s were causing him to stumble all over the place. Once he was on solid footing – and teamed with a confident Sittler – the right-winger bloomed spectacularly with 37 goals and 93 points in 1975-76 (his third season), increases of 20 and 49 respectively. He went on to seasons of 46, 47, 43 and 66 goals, the latter with Calgary in 1982-83.

Three of the most prolific point generators in NHL history – Guy Lafleur, Mark Messier and Paul Coffey – also began their careers modestly before flourishing."

Leafs cut 17 players.

Kadri wasn't one of them.

I think he'll be in the AHL by end of this week though. Just not ready, if you ask me.

THM can we carry the Calder bet to next season if Kadri doesn't get his rookie minimum games this season?

To followup on THM's post....

A comparison of bottom feeder draft picks.

Nazem Kadri is supposedly the greatest future prospect of any team taken in the 2009 and 2010 draft years. This has been demonstrated to be a well held belief amongst the drones of Leaf Nation.

According to Muppet, Kadri will be the Calder trophy winner if he plays 60 or more games. Notwithstanding the huge insult this is to Taylor Hall, Tyler Sequin and many, many other high picks and sleepers about to commence their official rookie year, Kadri has shown zip, zilch, nada, nothin' to suggest that Muppet's belief is correct.

My mockery of Muppet's fear to make a straight-up, unconditional Calder/No Calder bet is well documented in this blog. From what I've seen, I'm ready to acquiesce to the wise reluctance to take this.

While we're only a few games into the pre-season, I thought this comparison of Edmonton's 2009 1st pick (10th overall) and Toronto's 2009 1st pick (7th overall) might help observers decide if the Kadri Konfidence level is warranted.

*Shoot-out goals are not counted in goal stats. On that matter, here's a great comment by article 1 on PensionPlanPuppets. I would wholeheartedly agree with this based on observations at the NHL level and from the World Juniors.

What do you think, Muppet: $50 side wager if I give you a 60 game minimum trigger on Kadri? That puts us at $200 max exchange.

Preseason Battle Part 2

Sens lines tonight via NHL_Sens:
Foligno-Winchester-Ruutu
Regin-Smith-Shannon
Wick-Hoffman-Butler
O'Brien-Bass-Lessard

Cowen-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Hale
Benoit-Lee

Elliott will play 60 mins in goal

And the Blue teams via Sportsnet:

Kulemin-Bozak-Kessel
Caputi-Mitchell -Boyce
MacArthur -Grabovski-D'Amigo
Orr-Foster-Rosehill

Komisarek -Beauchemin
Schenn -Blacker
Richmond -Mikus

Scrivens and Reimer in net

We'll see if Kessel can get the Leaf offence going and if Lessard is up for Orr.

Big Swede v. Big Swede

Discuss.

(higher resolution pic now available on clickety-click)

It's just preseason

but what the heck..... A frustrating season is officially behind Nick Foligno.
The 22-year-old Ottawa Senators winger turned the page on an injury-plagued campaign in style, racing around Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf and scoring a nice goal in Tuesday's pre-season opener

Neiler with 3 pts and Lehner with the shutout. I predicited 4-0 with the boobirds coming out so I too seem to be in good form this early in the season.

For tonight's tilt, I expect it will be closer. 3-0 Sens.

Fine, I'll do the GDT!

I was waiting to see if THM or Don wanted to spin tonights game from a Sens perspective, or Five-O to throw down something that would have at least 3 cuss words and a bikini, but alas it's almost noon and something has to go up.

I'll keep it short because I would still like to see a Sens GDT from one of the crew before the puck drops so lets just start with line-ups for tonight.

TORONTO
Forwards
Kris Versteeg - Nazem Kadri - Colby Armstrong
Jay Rosehill - Christian Hanson - Mike Brown
Jerry D'Amigo - Brayden Irwin - Marcel Mueller
Ryan Hamilton - Mike Zigomanis - Joey Crabb

Defence
Carl Gunnarson - Dion Phaneuf
Brett Lebda - Tomas Kaberle
Simon Gysbers - Matt Lashoff

Goalies: Jonas Gustavsson, Jussi Rynnas

OTTAWA
Forwards
Bobby Butler, Nick Foligno, Matt Hoffman, Ryan Keller, Corey Locke, Chris Neil, Ryan Shannon, Zack Smith, Tim Spencer, Roman Wick, Jesse Winchester

Defence
Andre Benoit, Chris Campoli, Matt Carkner, Jared Cowan, David Hale, Brian Lee

Goalies
Robin Lehner
Brian Elliott

Raise your hand if you're just a little giddy at seeing Kadri with Versteeg and Armstrong out there right out of the gate.

Chomping at bit.

A little video from the "skirmish" during Leafs scrimmage. Either Komisarek is on steroids or he just really really really wants the season to start.

One can relate.

Cash Grabbin' on Grabovski!

This is quite the story. No charges, no police evidence, but a lawsuit against a guy who makes $2.7M a year. You go Langley!

The best part is the guys job. He's an Autobody Finishing Technician.

Hmm. They just call them "body guys" where I come from, but when you're suing and in front of a judge you do want to be perceived as more polished, I suppose.

Ok Sens fans, let us Leaf fans have it.
You know you want to.

Another camp day another scrap.

Just saw this on sportsnet.

Rosehill again, this time with Komisarek.

In Sens camp news, Alfredsson and Karlsson left the dressing room quickly to go to ikea and shop for matching bed spreads.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Good morning. It's the last day before pre-season games start. I recommend you catch up on work, perhaps take your girlfriend or wife out to dinner tonight and pay the hydro bill. After this, it's all hockey all the time!

Of course, the Toronto Star wants this to be a sour day for BOTH Leaf and Sens fans.

First up, Damien Cox puts a stake into the heart of the Ottawa Franchise stating what I've been saying for two years now.

Second, Kadri kicks off scrimmages yesterday with more than enough evidence that he's more a Marlie than a Leaf at this point. Excuses on the 2nd day of camp don't bode well young man.

McKenzie sets em straight.

Enough of that politics crap.

If you haven't already read it, here's a nice heartfelt article by Bob McKenzie on our former fearless leader Pat Burns. Keep up the good fight Pat. Our thoughts are with you.

Also... Check out my new digs.

Good god it is awesome. I wore it briefly but had to take it off when I got the sudden urge to play with stones and club someone over the head... and for some reason Sean Avery's ex-girlfriends kept hitting on me.

If you thought the Parti Quebecois were pissed off yesterday...

You probably read about this ongoing saga already. In short, the Parti Quebecois have called the Habs a "Canadian Propaganda Tool" because of the lack of french players on the team these days.

What's really going to get their goat is that Montreal look to be announcing Brian Gionta as their next captain. Gionta, of course, is American.

To any Parti Quebecois members out there who agree with the comments made by Pauline Marois this week, this should actually be good news for you. It would have been worse had they made Toronto-born Mike Cammalleri captain right?

GAME DAY THREAD! Diaper Edition.

It's been a while since we could say a BoO game is on tap. So what if it's a collection of prospects in a game with no real bearing, it's a hockey game!

Chicago and Pittsburgh play today at 2pm so at this point we're not sure if the Ottawa/Toronto game is for first place or second. The way the Hawks have played, I think the safe bet is on the latter but you never know.

Getting line-ups for this thing might be a task. If anybody can find them before the game starts do drop them in the comments. Leafs-wise, it does look like Kadri & Mueller will play and Keith Aulie will make his first start on the blueline as he was only recently cleared to play. Aulie vs Cowen will be fun to watch.

What else can one say about a meaningless game that will be forgotten in a few days as real camp starts and exhibition games get under way?

I guess it's still the BoO and I think both sides will enjoy a victory.

If you're away from the broadcast range, MapleLeafs.com will be showing the game on tape delay starting at 8pm.

Prediction: Leafs 6 Ottawa 2. Kadri with a pair.

Cheers!

Baby Battle

The Sens-Leafs rookie tourney game goes tomorrow.

Both teams are 1-1 so far with losses to the Pens and wins over the Hawks.

Desire to win from day #1.

"It's a different team. A lot of young guys, they're all very excited about the season. Everybody is here two weeks before training camp. I've never seen that in my life, ever. It's almost like training camp here right now so it's great to see that. I think if we can keep that mentality and energy all year we can do something good."
-Giggy, September 9th.

I was hoping to see this kind of intensity and commitment from day one of camp, but to have the whole team in Toronto training together this far before camp is good. Very good. As a fan, I think you have to be happy that whatever lies ahead this season, these guys are here to play in 2010/2011.

Also, not that anybody in their right mind would look to me for schedules, but I did say that Toronto plays on Saturday at 2pm to kick of the rookie tourney. That is incorrect according to the website, says on mapleleafs.com that the game is at 7pm vs Chicago. I think this means DiDomenico and Paradis both could be on the ice. Gives the game some added incentive as far as viewing pleasure doesn't it?

Two things about this story...

Perhaps you just read this "headline" news on TSN.
The gist: Kaberle was on the ice with Leaf teamates today, after which he said there is no issue with Wilson, he doesn't agree with his Dad, and that it's a non-issue.

While most of us don't care much about the actual story, there were a couple of things that caught my attention:

1. Read down to Komisarek's comments near the end and his nickname for Wilson. Why must every hockey player and coach make up a nickname for each other? Does this happen in other sports to the extent it does in the NHL?

2. If you enjoy things like laughing, check out the trade rumour in the comments section by BobbyT911.

Has Burke crossed the line for some fans?

In the name of rebuilding his hockey club, Brian Burke has been to a lot of places in search of Toronto Maple Leaf players. He's canvassed college hallways from Denver to Indiana, he's made pitches to players in Berlin and Danderyd and he's been on the phone for days on end to GM's in Calgary, Anaheim and Chicago to name a few. Yes, MLSE has spent a fair chunk of change on long-distance phone bills and Air Canada flight passes to ensure Brian Burke could leave no stone unturned. It's an investment Leaf fans have been more than happy to see their team willing to make.

Burke's latest traverse in search of free talent may be the one that does cross the line for some fans - rookie camp invitee Mike Liambas. While the name might not immediately ring a bell you only have to hear "that guy who was suspended for all of last season in the OHL for that gruesome hit to head on a 16 year-old", and you know exactly who I'm talking about. I can remember where I was when I heard that news - in my car on the DVP in the northbound lane on my way to a tile shop, listening to the Fan 590. It takes a special amount of stomach turn for level of pinpoint recollection doesn't it?

Now Mike Liambas will share the ice with the likes of Jerry D'Amigo and Nazem Kadri starting Saturday in London as the Leafs rookie tourny kicks off at 2pm. I just had a quick scour of MapleLeafs.com and while Liambas is indeed mentioned on the roster, it was only because of the good folks over at PPP that I knew this was the same Erie Otters player who ended his own junior career with the vicious hit. No talk about his past at all on the Leafs site.

The Star just a few minutes ago published their own story about Liambas, one I haven't read yet but you can find it here.

So how will people in Toronto and elsewhere feel about this? Does everybody deserve a second chance? Should the Leafs have a certain standard as far as character of players allowed to wear our jersey and if so has Burke crossed the line?

I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet. We probably all agree that mistakes are a human condition and that most people deserve a second chance, but from what I can tell this kid had been pretty dirty most of his career and while everybody likes an agitator or a good scrap, has this kid ever played the game right?

One thing is for sure, this is bound to cause some waves and for the sake of Burke and his team, I hope this kid is worth it.